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Marseille: mold, degraded buildings… Housing unworthy of 13 Habitat
4.2 million people in France are considered poorly housed, or 100,000 more than in 2022. Some of them live in one of the 600,000 substandard French housing units. Report from Marseille. – (France 2)
4.2 million people in France are considered poorly housed, or 100,000 more than in 2022. Some of them live in one of the 600,000 substandard French housing units. Report from Marseille.
Invaded by mold, Hélène Devienne had to seal off her 9-year-old son’s bedroom. She pays 650 euros in rent per month for an apartment that is not waterproof. She worries about the health of her children. “It scares me, because my son sometimes coughs, we don’t know why. We don’t know what it is, is it fungi, bacteria?” she confides. Corinne Meucci may have alerted her landlord, but the water damage is repeated in her home. “We had mushrooms. It’s disgusting”she says.
No major renovation
At the foot of the creeks in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) are nearly 700 aging housing units, built in the 1970s. Maintenance work has been carried out, but no major renovation. “We are left abandoned”, deplores a tenant. In a hall, an elevator presents a risk to the safety of residents. 13 Habitat, the owner of the residences, is the department’s leading social landlord.
The city put him on notice, noting “a situation that could harm the health and physical safety of the occupants”. Confronted by France Télévisions, the new president says she has discovered the situation, affirms that an investigation is underway, and promises “to undertake work”.
